Arcane Dust (D&D 5E Homebrew)

Arcane Dust is a Work In Progress homebrew campaign setting for my personal games. The themes of the world are:

The World is Ancient

Thousands of years ago the world had reached the peak of civilization: Great nations lived in relative peace and prosperity, the Arcane Colleges were beacons of light and technology, great temples stewarded worship to the pantheons, and the entire world was known and catalogued.

The Age of Legends ended in 100 years of Apocalypse: the Great Nations split into empires which split into kingdoms. The very forces envolved shifted the land itself as easily as it shifted allegiances and bloodlines.

The Gods are Missing or Dying

Sometime during the 100 years of Apocalypse the gods abandoned heaven and descended to the world.

The gods became embroiled in worldly concerns: war, wealth, politics, and slowly exhausted their divinity.

Few gods are left; hidden by their furtive worshippers, they carefully ration the remainder of their diminished powers

Clerics and other divine spellcasters are less common than other magic users, but not unknown. The Celestial Bureaucracy still functions to dole out power according to the ancient treatise.

Much of the world is Untamed

A few times in each hundred years aftershocks from the 100 year Apocolypse shift the lands further, sometimes birthing new lands, mountains, or seas in the process. Occasionally, ancient lands once thought lost forever resurface.

Maps even a decade old can be completely out of date. Adventurers and other travelers who are willing to survey for the Cartographer's guild are always in demand.

Conflict hastens the world toward the end

The Everconsuming Wyld: an unstoppable corruptive force marches in from the fringes of the world leaving utter Chaos in its wake

The 13 Demon Princes are making their final moves prior to their ultimate war on the Material Plane. They send their lieutenants to tempt and possess powerful mortals in preparation.

Magic was once everywhere, and in some places is still common

The ancient world held wonders uncounted. It was said that the meanest farmer could feed a city, his farms run by wonderous automotons and his crops blessed by divine artefacts. Occasionally these wonders resurface, though their use is not always obvious.

The Arcane Colleges survive, though their autonomy is always in question. Artificers are common in the remaining kingdoms, their skills bent to creation of arms and armament for the kingdom's armies.